2020-04 Chart Front

10:00 pm on April 1 N 9:00 pm on April 15 8:00 pm on May 1 To use this chart: hold the chart in front of you and turn it so the direction CASSIOPEIA you are facing is at the bottom of the CEPHEUS 2020 chart. DRACO Bright Stars Double Medium Bright Stars Cluster PERSEUS PRIL Faint Stars URSA MINOR A Polaris Capella Scan dark skies Venus (4/1) with binoculars: CORONA BOREALIS AURIGA M-45 BIG Venus M-42: The Great Orion Nebula (4/15) DIPPER Venus TAURUS (5/1) M-44: The Beehive Cluster URSA Castor MAJOR M-45: The Pleiades star cluster BOOTES Pollux E Aldebaran The Double Cluster in Perseus GEMINI W COMA BERENICES Spring is here! The days Arcturus LEO have been getting longer ORION M-44 ever since the rst day of CANCER VIRGO Betelgeuse winter, and will continue to CANIS M-42 lengthen until the rst day of MINOR summer, June 20. Procyon Rigel Regulus Sirius HYDRA Spica Full Moon From Nashville: CANIS Apr. 7 Sunrise Sunset CORVUS MAJOR Apr. 1 6:32 AM 7:09 PM Apr. 15 6:13 AM 7:21 PM May 1 5:53 AM 7:35 PM Last Quarter Apr. 14 New Moon S Apr. 22 Download monthly star charts and learn First Quarter more about our shows at adventuresci.org Apr. 1, 30 city lights, give your eyes time to adjust to the dark, April 2020 and look for even more celestial sights. After Sunset star in Virgo the Maiden low in the southeast. Neither of these Just beneath the belt of Orion is a faint patch of light constellations has any other bright stars. Even under dark skies that marks the hunter’s sword. This is M-42, the Great The first bright point you’ll see as the sky begins to away from city lights, it’s hard to imagine these mythological Orion Nebula. A small telescope can reveal the overall darken is the planet Venus. Like the other planets, figures just by connecting the dots. shape of the nebula. A quartet of young stars near the Venus does not produce its own light, but reflects the center are called the Trapezium. These stars formed Look low to the west for our last glimpses of winter constellations. light of the Sun — and its clouds are highly reflective. It out of the gas and dust of the nebula. will be visible in the early evening sky through mid-May. Orion the Hunter stands out early in the month, but will be lost Look between the constellations Leo and Gemini to Look for a crescent Moon near Venus on the evening of in the glow of sunset by May. Follow Orion’s belt to the left to find... nothing? Even under dark skies you’ll have to April 26. find the brightest star in the night sky,Sirius , in Canis Major the Big Dog. Follow the belt stars to the right to find orange star look closely to spot the famous but faint constellation Look high in the north for the Big Dipper. As famous Aldebaran, the eye of Taurus the Bull. Cancer the Crab, shaped like an upside-down letter Y. as the Dipper is, it’s not always easily visible from Near the center of the Y is M-44, the Beehive Cluster. Keep going past Aldebaran in the same direction to find a our latitude in Tennessee. During the autumn, it stays Like the Pleiades in Taurus, this open star cluster is a beautiful cluster of stars known as the Pleiades. To some hidden near the northern horizon, only to emerge in great target for binoculars. the wee hours of the morning. But in the spring, the eyes it looks like a miniature version of the Big Dipper. Under Dipper is high in the sky, easy to find. dark skies most people can see six stars, but under excellent conditions people with excellent eyesight can see seven. Watch A Look Ahead You can use the stars of the Big Dipper to find Polaris, for a wonderful sight on the evenings of April 2 and 3: Venus will As Earth orbits the Sun throughout the year, the the North Star. Use the two stars at the end of the appear very close to the Pleiades. Venus might outshine the star constellations rise and set just a little bit earlier every bowl of the Dipper to point you to Polaris. When you cluster, so grab a pair of binoculars for a better look. Along with day. You won’t see much difference from night to night, face Polaris, you’re facing due north. Venus, you may see dozens of stars in the Pleiades! but you will over the course of weeks or months. What we see in today’s pre-dawn sky is a preview of the early Polaris is not a particularly bright star, but it does Draw a line from Orion’s blue-colored foot Rigel up through evening sky in later months. Go out before dawn this remain fixed in the sky throughout the night and Betelgeuse, and keep on going until you run into Gemini the month for a look ahead at the summer evening sky. throughout the year. Polaris is at the end of the handle Twins. The bright stars Castor and Pollux mark the heads of the of the Little Dipper. This group of stars is officially twins. Under dark skies you may just be able to pick out two By morning, our winter constellations have set in known as Ursa Minor the Little Bear. Similarly, the Big stick-figure bodies leading back towards Orion. the west, and even Leo the Lion is setting along the Dipper is just a part of the official constellation Ursa western horizon. High overhead are the three bright Consider Betelgeuse for a moment to take in a bit of a cosmic Major the Great Bear. You’ll need dark skies to see the stars that make up the Summer Triangle. To the south mystery. It’s a red supergiant star almost 2,000 times the great bear’s fainter stars. is the J-shaped Scorpius the Scorpion, with the red diameter of our own Sun. It’s also a variable star, meaning that star Antares. Imagine poking a hole in the bottom of the Dipper to it gradually changes its size and brightness over time. Starting let the water drip out. The water falls onto the back in October of last year it began to fade far more than usual, Look towards the southeast for Mars, Saturn, and of Leo the Lion. The head and mane of the lion are down to a third of its normal brightness. Usually the brightest Jupiter. Jupiter is the brightest of the three, and represented by a group of stars that looks something star in Orion, it became fainter than Orion’s other shoulder appears above and to the right of Saturn. On April like a backwards question mark. Other stargazers star, Bellatrix. The difference wass quite noticable to frequent 1, Mars is just below but very close to Saturn. Each imagine the top hook of a coat hanger, or a sickle in this stargazers. In the past few weeks it has started to brighten night, Mars pulls further away from Saturn. As the group of stars. The “dot” at the bottom of the question again, and as of this writing it’s now a little more than half its weeks progress, Jupiter and Saturn will rise earlier and mark is Regulus, the brightest star in Leo. It marks the typical brightness. earlier, on their way to becoming a great evening sight regal heart of the lion. during the summer. Mars will return to evening skies in Betelgeuse is also well-known for being close to the end of its the autumn. Watch for the Moon to visit these three Follow the curved handle of the Big Dipper to trace the life, ready to go supernova. Astronomers estimate that it may planets on the mornings of April 14-16. ‘arc’ to Arcturus, the orange colored star in Boötes the have another 100,000 years left. That may seem like a long Herdsman. Then speed on to Spica, the single bright time for us to wait, but it’s a blink of an eye in cosmic time. Desktop planetarium software like the free, open- Although the star’s sudden dimming is intriguing, there’s not source Stellarium (stellarium.org) can show you more much evidence that a big explosion is imminent. precisely where night sky objects will be on any date and time, and help you plan your observing. From Dark Skies Bright outdoor lighting can make it hard to see all but the brightest stars. On a clear night, find a dark spot far away from .

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